#Eighty Six Legion

[ashitakaxsan]

86 Eighty-Six unveiled the cover for volume 12 of the Light Novel, drawn by illustrator Shirabi. The volume is set to release on February 10,2023. Kadokawa’s Dengeki Bunko is publishing the series.

Plott

The Republic of San Magnolia has been at war with the Empire of Giad for nine years now. Though it initially suffered devastating losses to the Empire's autonomous mechanized Legions, The Republic has since developed its own autonomous units, called Juggernauts, which are directed remotely by a Handler. Hence there is no more loss of human life – at least officially, anyway. In actuality, the Juggernauts are piloted by 86s, the designation given to minorities whohave been systematically dehumanized and forced to live in internment camps in the unofficial 86thWard. Only military service gives them any hope of bettering their lot.

Lena is a purebred Alba (the dominant race of the Republic) who at the mere age of 16, has earned the rank of Major in the Republic's military. She is assigned to be the Handler of the Spearhead squadron of the eastern front, an elite unit composed entirely of 86s veteran enough to have earned names. (86s are not otherwise allowed names officially.) It's also a unit known for scaring off previous handlers and even driving some to suicide. As she interacts with the squad and its leader, nicknamed Undertaker, she starts to learn the truth about the harrowing extent of the Republic's actual predicament, the horrifying extremes to which the Republic has violated the principles on which it was founded, and the dire reasons why the Republic can't afford not to take its persecution of the 86s to the logical endpoint.

[neo-shitty]

[bobhairgirl86]

A fan drawing of Bob hair girl, who served as one of Lena's aides from the 86 Eighty-Six (エイティシックス) anime. She's an anime-only character and this is a non-cannon scenario of what happens if she was converted by the Legion. The subtitle is a reference to a comment that she when she saw snow falling in one scene in the anime. I've made two versions, one with red eyes and one in white.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall is an impressive masterpiece of military engineering built along steep ups and downs that cross space and history between England and Scotland.

The old wall, sculpted for almost 2000 years by wind and rain, climbs over hills, immerses itself in a moor to suddenly resurface among the blades of light of a wood, a karst presence that seems to absorb the energy of landscape to challenge its gravity and logic in a rollercoaster of harsh ups and downs that cross space and history.

Hadrian's Wall is no longer England but it is not yet Scotland, even if the land to the north seems wilder.

But perhaps it is just a state of mind of those who look at it, subtly altered by the emotion of treading the same stones on which the Roman legionaries walked.

In reality, unlike what many believe, the Wall is within English territory, even if it has helped define the borders of the two countries since the emperor from whom it takes its name ordered its construction in 122 AD to "separate the Romans from the barbarians," the hostile tribes of the Picts who populated today's Scotland, a tough nut to crack even for the Roman legions.

To build it in just six years, about fifteen thousand men were employed, three legions that faced the challenges of a terrain carefully chosen to exploit its advantages.

The result is an impressive masterpiece of military engineering, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, stretching from one coast of England to the other for eighty Roman miles, about one hundred and seventeen kilometers from Solway Firth to the west and Wallsend to the east.

It is one of the many place names linked to its existence and then extending southwards with ports and coastal fortifications.

For nearly three centuries, Hadrian's Wall was northernmost and most fortified boundary of the Roman limes, a gigantic defensive system that stretched for over five thousand kilometres — from the Atlantic coast of Great Britain to the Black Sea across Europe — then continuing through present-day Middle East to Red Sea and from there cutting across North Africa to the Atlantic.

The 117km long (80 Roman miles) Hadrian's Wall was punctuated by 14 main forts, 80 minor ones and 2 watchtowers every third of a mile.

In addition to the actual wall, mainly made of stone, about 5m high and up to 3m thick, becoming six metres thick in the earthen sections, the Wall was reinforced by a ditch bristling with pointed stakes, a military road that connected the forts and allowed any point to be reached quickly and by a deep embankment, the Vallum.

The forts, rectangular in plan, varied in size according to the importance of the garrison, a pattern repeated with slight differences along the entire limes that protected the borders of the empire.

A moat and a wall punctuated by towers protected the perimeter and each side had a gate protected by two massive towers.

Inside were the headquarters — the praetorium where the praefectus castrorum reside; barracks; a hospital; warehouses and latrines, generally under the walls, while the bathrooms were outside the fortifications.

In granary, food supplies were stored to face the harsh winters or possible sieges.

In the Vicus, the civilian settlement, lived the families of the soldiers, often auxiliaries who officially could not marry.

In these villages that grew spontaneously around the forts, merchants, artisans and prostitutes also lived, attracted by the soldiers' wages.

There were also temples dedicated to Roman, local and even oriental deities that reflected the different religions of soldiers from all over the empire because Romans were very tolerant as long as the social order and the emperor were not questioned.

🎥: © pindropandhop via IG

[blueiscoool]

The Stunning Ancient Greek Mosaics of Zeugma

The ancient Greek mosaics of Zeugma in Turkey are true archaeological treasures that can still be admired at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep, Turkey.

The 30,000-square-meter (320,000 square foot) museum, which opened its doors in September of 2011 is the largest mosaic museum in the world, containing 1,700 square meters (18,000 square feet) of ancient works of art.

The museum focuses on the mosaics found in Zeugma, which was originally founded as Seleucia by Seleucus I Nicator, a general in Alexander the Great’s Army, in 305 BC.

After Alexander’s death, his generals divided his empire among themselves. Although Seleucus moved his main capital to Antioch, Seleucia became an important center of trade, Hellenistic culture, and regional government under the Seleucids.

The city was populated by Greeks, Syrians, and Jews. It was an affluent city with a population of eighty thousand and in the 2nd and 3rd century BC was of sufficient stature to be compared to another great center of Hellenism, Alexandria, in Egypt.

The Roman Empire’s forces conquered the city in 64 BC, renaming it Zeugma (meaning “bridge” or “crossing” in ancient Greek).

The Romans held Zeugma until 253 AD, when the Persian Sassanids conquered the city, putting a violent end to its most significant years.

The ancient Greek mosaics of Zeugma

The treasures of Zeugma, including its vaunted mosaics, remained relatively unknown until the year 2000. Zeugma is now eighty percent underwater after it was flooded with the waters of a nearby artificial lake.

Archaeologists were alarmed at the flooding of the area and immediately began excavations to save the ancient treasures.

Most of the Greek mosaics of Zeugma, which were recovered in excellent condition, belong to the 2nd century BC preceding the Romans.

However, some of the mosaics appear to belong to the Roman era, as they depict Greek and Roman deities together.

In addition, some of the mosaics deviate from purely Hellenistic style and imagery, with archaeologists placing them in the Roman era of the city’s history.

The archaeological site of Zeugma

The archaeological site of Zeugma is a UNESCO World Heritage Center, located ten kilometers (six miles) away from Nizip within the boundaries of Gaziantep.

The preserved parts of the ancient city include the Hellenistic Agora, the Roman Agora, two sanctuaries, the stadium, the theater, two bathhouses, and the Roman legion military base.

Remains of the administrative structures of the Roman legion, the majority of the residential quarters, Hellenistic and Roman city walls, and the East, South and West necropolis can also be found there.

The archaeological site of Zeugma is of immense historical significance in the understanding of the ancient integration of Hellenistic and Semitic cultural spheres and the birth of syncretistic hybrid cultures in the region.

By Philip Chrysopoulos.

[s3znl-gr3znl]

For you

Fuuuuck i really wanna rewatch The 86 for this song alone

The series climax was so special and this like the PERFECT song for it

Psych, this just became a review post.

I love this series. It has its shortcoming with somewhat tired tropes and predictable deaths.

It suffers slightly from what I would call Second Season Syndrome (think 7 Deadly Sins) where they add some shit no one asked for instead of developing our already large and complex cast of characters any further. They introduce a new mcguffin character whose really just an annoying tag-a-long until the finale.

For context, our new mcguffin character is a child that tags along as moral support. Thats their whole bit.

Aside from that its a really solid series with solid themes and characters with a phenomenal ending, so dont let my tiny criticisms dissuade you from watching it!

The mech design is unique, interesting, well thought out, and really fun to watch!

[ufonaut]

With Alan Scott’s first solo book since 1949 now officially announced, I thought it was about time to finally put together a reading guide to all his appearances as a gay man in DC’s main continuity. If you’ve missed the beginning of Alan’s journey and you’ve got a couple questions that need to be answered, or you merely want to refresh your memory and celebrate this momentous occasion, this is the place for you!

VITAL

Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular (2020) #1 -  a rehash of Alan’s origin from All-American Comics (1939) #16 with added details, now establishing Jimmy Henton as his lover and confirming Alan’s sexuality as well the gaycoding of his original appearances from so many decades past.

Infinite Frontier (2021) #0 - Alan comes out as gay to his children in a tearful confession regarding his past fears, his marriages, and the eighty years he’s spent in the closet.

DC Pride (2021) #1 - Alan meets Todd and his boyfriend Damon Matthews for lunch and a long overdue honest discussion -- featuring flashbacks to Alan and Jimmy’s first meeting and the subsequent train crash, as well as a newfound understanding between Alan and Todd and what it had meant for Alan to see Todd as an out gay man.

THE DCU AT LARGE/ONGOING

Infinite Frontier (2021) #1-6 - picking up immediately after the aforementioned IF #0 and DC Pride, the series sees Alan and Todd working together to solve Jennie’s mysterious disappearance and the destruction of the JSA’s HQ. Alan’s sexuality is referenced throughout the book, and the complicated father-son relationship between him and Todd is further explored.

Dark Crisis (2022) #1-6 - Alan is a main character in the series, dealing with themes of legacy and the official return of the JSA.

Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green (2022) #1 - the one-shot sees Alan coming back to his magical roots, and features him as the key to defeating the Great Darkness with his children’s help. Notable for featuring four generations of DC’s mainstay LGBT characters (Alan, John Constantine, Todd Rice, and Jon Kent).

The New Golden Age (2022) #1 - this one-shot sets up the Justice Society of America (2022) ongoing series and the Stargirl: The Lost Children (2022) six-issue miniseries, it’s also the first story set in the 1940s to feature Alan after his coming out and it officially confirms that Doiby Dickles was aware and accepting of his sexuality.

Justice Society of America (2022) - current ongoing series, Alan is a main character.

UPCOMING

DC Pride (2023) #1 - the one-shot will feature a team-up between Alan and Apollo & Midnighter in the story entitled ‘Anniversary’. Out May 30th 2023!

DC Pride: Through The Years (2023) #1 - the one-shot serves as the starting point for Alan’s upcoming series. Out June 13th 2023!

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern (2023) #1-6 - the six-issue miniseries is a ‘year one’ type story, exploring Alan’s rarely-seen coming of age and his life as a gay man in the 1940s. Out October 3rd 2023!

ELSEWORLDS

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Crisis on Infinite Earths (2020) #1 - Alan is one of the main characters in this Elseworlds one-shot, making the ultimate sacrifice to save the world after revealing to Todd that he knows what it’s like “to hide your light”.

Injustice: Year Zero (2020) #1-14 - Alan is a main character in this prequel miniseries, he and Jimmy Henton are a married couple. To date, issue #13 features Alan’s only on-panel kiss.

OFFICIAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS

The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition (2021) - this is the very first official DC encyclopedia to refer to Alan as a gay man.

The DC Book of Pride (2023) - this encyclopedia of DC’s LGBT characters features an entry on Alan.

ASSORTED CAMEOS

Infinite Frontier: Secret Files (2021) #3

Stargirl Spring Break Special (2021) #1

Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes (2022) #4

Dark Crisis: War Zone (2023) #1

Lazarus Planet: Alpha (2023) #1

Lazarus Planet: Omega (2023) #1

Stargirl: The Lost Children (2022) #6

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group I Round 1: #I8 vs #I1

#I8: Magical girl club gets silly and depressing

In her everyday life, Yuuna Yuuki is a hero. As proof, she is in her middle school's Hero Club, where she does her best to help others and bring a smile to everyone's face.

But Yuuna, always up to any task, is about to become an even bigger hero. Mysterious destructive forces called Vertexes begin threatening the world she loves, and the Hero Club is called upon by a strange phone app to save it. Along with her best friend Mimori Tougou, as well as sisters Fuu and Itsuki Inubouzaki, they must transform into magical girls in order to battle the Vertexes.

#I1: The 86 are forced to fight someone else’s war.

According to the Republic of San Magnolia, their ongoing war against the Giadian Empire has no casualties—however, that is mere propaganda. While the silver-haired Alba of the Republic's eighty-five sectors live safely behind protective walls, those of different appearances are interned in a secret eighty-sixth faction. Known within the military as the Eighty-Six, they are forced to fight against the Empire's autonomous Legion under the command of the Republican "Handlers."

Vladilena Milizé is assigned to the Spearhead squadron to replace their previous Handler. Shunned by her peers for being a fellow Eighty-Six supporter, she continues to fight against their inhumane discrimination. Shinei Nouzen is the captain of the Spearhead squadron. Infamous for being the sole survivor of every squadron he's been in, he insists on shouldering the names and wishes of his fallen comrades.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#I8: Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero (Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru)

Propaganda:

I adored this show from the moment I watched it because throughout it all, it’s hopeful. These girls go through a lot. A LOT. A lot of horrible, horrible things, and yet they bounce back. These girls bounce back pretty much every single time and do anything to help their friends do the same. To me, that is insanely inspiring.

The cast of characters here are also insanely compelling. They feel like actual, real friends—doing things together, hanging out, comforting each other and laughing with them all the same. This point I feel helps that sense of hope this show has absolutely.

The character designs in general too are absolutely breathtaking, and are nothing like I’ve ever seen from any other magical girl anime. Also, one last thing: this show’s soundtrack is done by MONACA. MONACA is also known for doing the first two NieR games. Take that what you will :)

Trigger Warnings: Flashing Lights, Self-Harm, Suicide

#I1: 86 (Eighty-Six)

Propaganda:

The characterization and character development in this show is amazing. It also has a very good depiction of survivor’s guilt/mental health, which you don’t see a lot. The animation is great and the soundtrack is done by Hiroyuki Sawano, who’s amazing and it’s one of the best soundtracks for a show ever.

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Racism, Suicide.

A main subject of the show is racism. Active war, lots of violence. Character acts without regard for their life, so suicide was included. Child abuse relates to the backstory of a character.

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[archduchessofnowhere]

Hello! Since you're tumblr's Marie Sophie expert, I was wondering if you've read Lorraine Kaltenbach's Le Secret de la reine soldat: L'extraordinaire soeur de Sissi and in case you have, if you recommend it. It focuses on Marie Sophie's supposed illegitimate daughter; personally I find this story hard to believe and iirc so do you, but Kaltenbach apparently visited several archives around Europe to do her research, so maybe she did find something new.

Hello! Ughh that book. I have a confession to make: years ago I started reading it because well, it's about the alleged illegitimate daughter, if the author really found something about it then it's worth reading it. But I couldn't finish it because it was so badly researched it made me loose all my patience. Kaltenbach is not a historian and it shows:

She dedicates long parragraphs to describe what was she doing and how was she feeling while "researching".

Most of her sources are just newspapers. I'm not against citing newspapers by any means but the way she did Is Not It. With no context given and taken 100% at face value.

But what made me loose it is when she finally reached to the the alleged affair and I realized her main source for it was... Marie Larisch's 1930s books. I kid you not. All that "brand new information" and "uncovering secrets" talk and she was literally just quoting Larisch's gossips as literally everyone else who ever approached the subject.

At that point I gave up and went straight to the part of the alleged daughter, Daisy de Lavaysse. Here's what I'll say on Kaltenbach's defense: this girl seems to have actually existed. She (allegedly) found her death certificate in Paris, the act of recognition by her father, and her baptism certificate in Bavaria. Now she doesn't actually show any of these documents on her book, however someone on Geneanet uploaded this picture on Daisy's page:

This is the supposed death certificate. No need to decipher the writing, this is what it says, quoted by Kaltenbach:

Lavaÿsse-Châteaubourg. Acte n° 39. L'an mille huit cent quatre-vingt- six, le 7 janvier à onze heures du matin, acte de décès de Marie Louise Élisabeth Mathilde Henriette de Lavaÿsse-Châteaubourg, âgée de vingt-deux ans et dix mois, sans profession, née à Munich (Bavière), décédée en son domicile rue des Mathurins, nº 47, le six janvier courant à neuf heures du matin, fille de Charles Felix Emmanuel de Lavaÿsse-Châteaubourg, décédé, et de mère non dénommée, célibataire. Dressé vérification faite du décès par nous, Jérémie Kastler, adjoint au maire, officier de l'état civil du 8e arrondissement de Paris, chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, officier d'Académie, sur la déclaration faite de Georges Adrien Sol de Marquein, âgé de quarante-deux ans, propriétaire, demeurant à Paris, rue de Lisbonne, n° 49, ami de la défunte; et de Henry de Gineste-Najac, âgé de quarante-sept ans, propriétaire, demeurant à Paris, avenue d'Antin, nº 18, ami de la famille, qui ont signé avec nous après lecture.

Translation:

Lavaÿsse-Châteaubourg. Act No. 39. In the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six, on January 7 at eleven o'clock in the morning, death certificate of Marie Louise Élisabeth Mathilde Henriette de Lavaÿsse-Châteaubourg, aged twenty-two years and ten months, without profession, born in Munich (Bavaria), died at her home rue des Mathurins, no. 47, on the current January 6 at nine o'clock in the morning, daughter of Charles Felix Emmanuel de Lavaÿsse-Châteaubourg, deceased, and of an unnamed mother, unmarried. Cerification of the death made by us, Jérémie Kastler, deputy mayor, civil registrar of the 8th arrondissement of Paris, knight of the Legion of Honor, officer of the Academy, on the declaration made by Georges Adrien Sol de Marquein, aged forty-two, owner, residing in Paris, rue de Lisbonne, n° 49, friend of the deceased; and Henry de Gineste-Najac, aged forty-seven, owner, residing in Paris, avenue d'Antin, n° 18, friend of the family, who signed with us after reading.

Let's assume the certificate is legitimate. Why didn't she include it on her book? Why the only picture of it is in a genealogy website and seems taken almost in a hurry?

The strongest evidence Kaltenbach does provide in her book are these two alleged pictures of Daisy she claims were on her grandmother's possesion:

Which she puts next to this picture published by Marie Larisch (left) in one of her books, with a girl that allegedly was Daisy (right):

And I'll give her this: these two pictures do seem to be from the same person.

I'm going to be nice and assume that Kaltenbach indeed found all the evidence she claims she did (because again, she does not provide any of the documents that would actually support her claims). What did she found out? That a distant relative of her had an illegitimate daughter born in Bavaria in 1863. That's it. Everything else is pure speculation. Nothing she provides proves that Marie was Daisy's mother. Absolutely nothing. She just speculates for dozens of pages, most of the time making up a story that fits nicely into what she already believed even before starting her research.

Maybe the author was genuinely onto something, perhaps Daisy was an illegitimate daughter of a member of the House of Wittelsbach. Perhaps she was Marie's daughter after all! But she clearly had no idea on how to properly investigate the subject, and because of that any sort of credibility her evidence could have became damaged. She should've delegated the research to a real historian and written a novel instead.

[jazzdailyblog]

George Benson: The Master of Jazz Guitar

Introduction: George Benson, born eighty-one years ago today on March 22, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a virtuoso guitarist and singer whose remarkable career has spanned over six decades. His innovative blend of jazz, pop, and soul has earned him critical acclaim and a legion of devoted fans around the world. Early Life and Musical Beginnings: Benson’s musical journey began at a…

[leareadsheresy]

Mission Statement: Committing to a Mistake

I'm going to read all the Horus Heresy stories. I'm going to do it in publication order.

To be clear, I'm not going to read all the books in publication order; I'm going to read all the stories in publication order. There are a lot of stories that were initially published in, like, Horus Heresy Weekender pamphlets or as web fiction years before they saw print in later anthology volumes. I've made a list. Making it took an evening that would have been better spent on almost any other activity, up to and including just going to bed early, but now I've got it. All I need to do is go back and refine it from publication month to publication day for specifically those stories that were published daily as part of one-story-per-day monthly events, but those don't start to become a factor until much later so no hurry on that.

I haven't decided yet whether I'll listen to audio dramas in cases where a story was first released as an audio drama and later re-released in text. I'm not really a fan of audio books. Also, this includes the Heresy 1st edition Black Books, Primarch novels, and character series novels like Valdor: Birth of the Imperium. All told there are eighty-five books in this list, and if you break it out by individual short stories there's about 253 items, though that does include both short stories and the anthology volumes that compile them, as many anthology volumes that compile previously-published short stories add a framing narrative. If I read one novel's worth of text a week, which to be clear I am absolutely not committing to doing, it'll take me a year and a half.

Why am I doing this? Well, there's a number of reasons.

The first is it's absurd to sink this much energy into being an… enthusiast, I guess you could say, under protest… for a setting while absorbing most of it second-hand, and as a wise man once said, the time will pass regardless. But the second reason, the real reason, is I need to know. I cannot take my understanding of this work being filtered through YouTube Lore Explainers anymore, or worse, overly verbose fan wikis, people who themselves only understand it from watching YouTube Lore Explainers, or people who have read the books but have no critical faculties and read them through the lens of their memories of If the Emperor had a Text to Speech Device. I have to see it for myself. I need to be able to filter the words of the text from the memes.

The third reason is I hope having a long-term project like this will distract me from other stupid projects that might be expensive, like adopting new hobbies.

Why publication order by story instead of publication order by compiled volume or chronology? Well, I'm interested in how the narrative develops over time, not just from an in-universe perspective but from the real-life one as well. I'm interested in, for example, reading Book I: Betrayal in the context of being the first proper Horus Heresy game book published six years into the novel series, and how what it says about the traitor legions on Istvaan III reflects what the novels have said about them up until that point. Also, it ought to help me get through the allegedly terrible Salamanders stories by reading them one at a time in between other works, instead of all at once when I reach Born of Flames.

To amuse myself, I will proceed on the assumption that the Horus Heresy 1st Edition Black Books are flawed in-universe history texts, and the novels are flawed dramatizations, both referring to a hypothetical "real" set of events that cannot be perceived directly. This should insulate me from the worst of the critical whiplash stemming from when an important character from better books shows up and has important character development done awfully in a book that's awful.

Here's my history with the works: Years ago, I read Horus Rising and thought it was pretty decent, if clumsy in its introduction of Samus during the first part of the book. I then read halfway through False Gods and thought it was God damn awful, just taking the character work from the first book out behind the chemical sheds and shooting it in the back of the skull, and I quit the series. Later, I read Book I: Betrayal, about halfway through Book II: Massacre, and skipped ahead to Book III: Extermination because I'm a giant Raven Guard goober for some damn reason. I've also read Deliverance Lost, the Corax anthology, the Corax: Lord of Shadows Primarch novel, and parts of Book VI: Retribution and Book VIII: Malevolence. I will be re-reading all of these as I get to them in the reading order list.

My original plan was to pick up where I left off, but upon realizing that I'd left off halfway through False Gods and not like ten pages into it the way I remembered, I went back to the start of that book, then realized it had been so long since I read it and Horus Rising that I didn't remember which events had happened in which book. So I've started from the beginning again. I am currently about a third of the way through my second read of Horus Rising and have just started Part 2: Brotherhood in Spiderland, which I mention by name here because it's named Part 2: Brotherhood in Spiderland. I expect my next entry in this blog will be thoughts on Horus Rising Part 1: The Deceived, and I'll get around to renovating the appearance of the blog itself thereafter.

If I should fail in this endeavor, lose interest or drift away, good. This is a terrible idea.

And for the record, Lea is pronounced "Lee" and I've read all of Homestuck.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

86: Eighty-Six

Author: Asato Asato

Illustrator: Shirabi

Mecha Designer: I-IV

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 February 2017

My Score: 5/5

English Release: Yen-Press is currently publishing this series in English.

I struggled to create a summary for this premise so I'll just use Yen-Press's for volume one: "The Republic of San Magnolia has long been under attack from the neighboring Giadian Empire's army of unmanned drones known as the Legion. After years of painstaking research, the Republic finally developed autonomous drones of their own, turning the one-sided struggle into a war without casualties-or at least, that's what the government claims. In truth, there is no such thing as a bloodless war. Beyond the fortified walls protecting the eighty-five Republic territories lies the "nonexistent" Eighty-Sixth Sector. The young men and women of this forsaken land are branded the Eighty-Six and, stripped of their humanity, pilot the "unmanned" weapons into battle..."

To build up from that summary: the volume focuses on Lena, an officer in San Magnolia, as she becomes in charge of the Spearhead squadron, a squadron of the Eighty-Six. In this squadron is a soldier known as the Undertaker and it's rumored that every handler for this squadron goes insane. Lena is more emphatic to the Eighty-Six than most people of the republic and the volume focuses on her confronting her own biases against the Eighty-Six, and her blossoming relationship with the members of the Spearhead squadron, particularly the undertaker himself, Shin.

I've been wanting to read this series for a long time, but I got scared because I'm not great at reading military fantasy in Japanese, and I heard this one is very difficult to read. The volume was heavily discounted on Bookwalker recently so I decided it was finally time to read it. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad. Yeah, I had a bit of a struggle following some of the battle scenes, but there aren't that many of them and the volume tends to focus more of the human drama then on the battles.

And that human drama element is very well written. I was so invested in the story and the characters, even as I knew how the story would turn out from watching the anime. I'm obviously not an expert, but I feel like this series is one of the better portrayals of fantasy racism in fiction. It shows how racism is systemic and that it is created by people in power wanting to keep their power. The volume does a great job at exploring that.

The prose was also really good, especially during the emotional moments. Honestly, I wasn't too interested in the Shin/Lena romance in the anime, but I understood the appeal here. It is pretty cute to see two people form a connection without ever seeing one another.

I did want to rewatch the anime for this review, but it adapts the volume across 11 episodes and I didn't have time to watch more than the first two. But I do think that it is a really good adaptation that builds on the strengths of the source material. The music is amazing (The Answer has been stuck in my head for the last week), and I appreciate that they added some anime original content, like episodes 10 and 11 (unless these end up being in volume 2 which I doubt). It expanded on the source material in meaningful ways and it's definitely worth the watch.

I'm glad I finally read this volume, because I loved it more than I thought I would. I'm definitely going to be reading more when I get the chance.

[rikiblues]

shinjū (心中)

featuring. enhypen ni-ki x fem!oc contents. 86!au, angst, heavy angst, major character death, assisted suicide blood and gore, detailed injuries, racism, discrimination, mentions of concentration camps, forced military enlistment. fluff, love confessions, first kiss.

track. voices of the chord, sawano hiroyuki word count. 5080

note. some world notes; they're fighting a war against war machines called the legion, the 86 are people w colored hair and eyes thrown out of san magnolia by the alba, people w white/silver hair and eyes. they fight in war machines called juggernauts that don't account for pilot safety, and they communicate using a device called para-raid. handlers are alba military officials who direct them from inside san magnolia, typically incredibly abusive, and the 86 have little to no rights at all. that's it for this au, hope you enjoy ahah

Hazy darkness begins to give way to golden light.

Riki Nishimura opens his eyes slowly, aware of his head spinning, aware that he's practically numb. Not good—he has to be bleeding badly somewhere. Being able to feel pain, he's learned, is better than experiencing so much pain that your body goes into shock.

He blinks, and blinks again. Slowly his awareness spreads out, and his nose is hit with the metallic tang of blood. So much that he stiffens, wondering just how screwed he is. Just how many others they're losing again today...and if he himself is on that list.

That nonexistent list only etched in the hearts of their comrades. The only memorial allowed to them. Nothing else—not even a simple grave, not even a burial. 

He chuckles a bit when he remembers Shinei Nouzen and his scraps of metal retrieved from ruined Juggernauts, engraved messily with the names of fallen comrades. Riki hasn't yet lived long enough to be a name bearer, but regardless of whether he doesn't have a call sign, Shin will take a piece of his Juggernaut and write his name. It comforts him.

Of course, the thought of this all means that he's dying. He wouldn't think like this if he truly believed he had a way out of here.

A small sob gets his attention, and his head—thankfully he can move that fine—snaps to his left, and he jolts. There lies Mila, soaked with blood, her brown hair so soaked with it that it's darker, drippign droplets of it. Not all of it is her own, that much is obvious.

And she has a gun pointed right at Riki's head.

"I'm sorry," she hiccups, "I'm sorry, I can't—this isn't what I—"

Watching the only girl he's ever loved do this breaks his heart. Nobody should be subjected to this. The gun's muzzle is a full six feet or more away from him, and he will die instantly should Mila pull the trigger. Like he knows she will.

"Mila," he says hoarsely, "please."

Her hand shakes but she does her level best to keep it steady. "Riki," she lets out another sob. "Why? We—we were supposed to—"

"I know," Riki is beginning to feel the first sensations of pain from somewhere around his chest, a stinging ache. Crap. A chest wound. He's not getting out of this alive. "But remember what we talked about. Remember what we promised."

Mila cries harder.

𓆩♡𓆪

Midnight meetings at the age of sixteen aren't out of the norm, especially as an Eighty-Sixer. Comfort is hard to come by, and they will take any of it that they can. 

Riki Nishimura is one of those many hopeless Colorata, clinging onto some pathetic resemblance of hope and humanity when really, what is there left anymore for him to live on for? Perhaps the pride of an Eighty-Six. He knows he values that above far too much—never will he ever descend to the level of the white pigs.

Even if it means biting his tongue bloody as the Handler throws verbal assault at them. He wishes so badly sometimes he can rip the Para-RAID off his ear, but of course, it's permanently attached, while the oh-so-wise and noble Alba get to wear pretty little collars as they like. Hilarious. But unsurprising.

Why is he getting so angry about this at one in the morning? Probably the lack of sleep. He doubts he's ever slept this badly in the two years he's been serving as part of two different squads. Part of him wonders how he's still alive, and then he remembers he'll just die anyway, so he chooses not to worry about that.

"Riki?" a voice hisses in his ear. "Where the hell are you?"

He stifles a giggle. "I'm looking for something in my Juggernaut," he whispers back. No one is actually in the hangar with him right now—Mila just likes to worry when he doesn't show up to their little rendezvous on time, hence the Para-RAID call. "I'll be quick."

"Riki, it's literally pitch-dark in the hangar. What do you think you'll be able to find in there? And anyway, where are the mechanics?"

"Asleep in their rooms, I'd assume." 

Mila lets out a sigh. "Well, be quick and don't trip over something. You'll get in trouble."

"I know, I know," Riki mumbles, squinting in concentration as he feels around the cockpit of his Juggernaut for the rock he had picked up today while out on sortie. They'd lost another squad member today—Harua, the only other Orienta in their squad—and he'd spent too long crying over him. The only upside was the little, albeit kind of stupid, gift he had found for Mila while they retrieved another squad member stuck in the wreckage of his own Juggernaut.

"I saw Shin walk past just now," Mila says after a moment. "He looked...sad."

"He can emote?" is Riki's automatic, unthinking response. He immediately winces, realizing how insensitive that is. "Sorry, I...I just mean, he usually looks so..."

Cold. Unfeeling. Like a reaper.

"...he had a piece of Harua's Juggernaut, I think," Mila responds quietly. "There was something metal and shiny in his hand."

"Oh." Riki bites his lip, continuing dig around the cockpit. The metal is still warm from the day's sortie, not aided by the fact it has no cooling system whatsoever (or that the hangar is just a wooden warehouse-looking building with the mechanics' tools in it). "That's...that's good."

At least Harua will be remembered, Riki consoles himself. Shinei Nouzen is a strange boy, but a mostly reliable one. Riki says mostly because he knows next to nothing about the guy, other than his apparent interest for reading.

Everyone knows of their silent squad mate's habits now—from his absolutely silent footsteps to his tendency of collecting remnants of fallen comrades' Juggernauts, engraving their names on the shards, and keeping them hidden away. The Eighty-Six aren't allowed to have graves, which just contributes to the Legion problem, so Riki supposes that it happens to be Shin's way of giving them one.

Like a reminder. Like a memorial to who they were in life.

"Found it!" he mutters triumphantly when his hand comes in contact with a small, cooler object round but slightly oblong in shape. He quickly closes his fist around it and clambers down from his uncomfortable perch of leaning over the side of the Juggernaut, massaging his ribs with a grimace as he lands on his feet lightly.

"Found what?" Mila asks.

"You'll see," Riki replies cheekily, trying to keep the mood up. Losing squad mates is nothing new, honestly—by the next sortie, either they'll all die or they'll have to be reassigned to different squads. Riki knows which one is likelier, but a small, stupid part of him hopes he and Mila will make it.

"Okay, okay, just get over here already," Mila says impatiently. "I'm getting antsy. Do you know how weird it is to just in a corridor by a closed door? Not even by a window? When it's one in the morning?"

"I'm almost there," Riki whines, hastening his footsteps, making sure that Mila hears them. The settings on the Para-RAID are usually kept to the lowest—only transmitting sound and unfortunately, just a hint of emotion—both because Riki hates people reading into anything more than what he shows, and also because he refuses to be caught off-guard by the Handlers. Besides, it's funny to stomp his feet and feel Mila's wince as she no doubt thinks about the scolding they'll get if they're to be caught.

The darkness isn't so absolute that Riki can't see his hand in front of his face, but it's still a relief to emerge into the moonlight. The Eighty-Six don't exactly have electricity access, at least not at night, so they usually guide themselves by moonlight. And, well, on moonless nights...there are other ways.

"Riki, hurry up unless you want Raiden to go all mom-mode," Mila hisses, "because I think I just heard him talking to Shin!"

"I'm almost there," Riki repeats, "meet me outside. I've got something for you."

Immediately, Mila falls silent. "Okay," she responds, and he can practically hear the gears in her brain turning. It's amusing how he can do things like this and Mila will give it genuine thought. 

It takes less than two minutes for them to meet outside the barracks, and Riki reaches up to cut off the Para-RAID connection himself. Mila looks up at him with narrowed eyes for a second before looking at his hands clasped behind his back. She knows better than to try and look at it, instead raising an eyebrow at him.

"Patience, Mila dear," Riki says mischievously, much to her frustration. She frowns at him and strides ahead, but Riki knows all too well that she isn't actually upset, just messing around with her. Okay, and maybe a little pissed he took so long to get here, which. Fair.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" he calls out, giggling, striding after her. His longer legs help him reach her faster and Mila turns around, her own face breaking out in a grin, sparkly in the same way her blue eyes are. In the moonlight, both her eyes and her brown hair—signifying her mixed Deseria and Rubis ancestry—take on a silvery, washed-out sheen, but she's no less beautiful.

Mila Clemens is so beautiful it hurts to look at, a little bit.

(Okay, so. Riki might be a little whipped for her.)

"I do not want to be subjected to another scolding," Mila scolds, "and I don't think you want one, either."

"Then let's go before we get caught," Riki says, taking her hand and breaking into a run. Mila's startled shriek pierces the air as she's forced to run on light steps, dragged along behind him. He knows nobody will actually care—Raiden knows they need times like this after days like this, before days like tomorrow inevitably will be—and that in the end, as long as they don't wander too far, they'll be fine.

"Riki Nishimura!" she shrieks, but she's also laughing and her other hand is clutched around his wrist. "You're going to make me fall!"

"You're more nimble than that!" Riki calls back, giggling harder than ever as they reach the small hill they usually find themselves climbing at night. He sprints up to the top without pausing, and neither do his giggles or Mila's frantic yells and laughs and curses.

"I swear to god—" Mila cuts herself off with another high-pitched shriek as the two of them tumble to the soft grass, all because Riki throws himself down and takes Mila with him. They hit the grass in an undignified heap, giggling uncontrollably.

Riki unentangles himself from her. Their laughter dies down and they lie on their backs side-by-side, gasping for air as they look up at the night sky. If it weren't for the moon, they wouldn't be able to see each other at all.

And this is their purpose: going out almost every night, especially on nights when they lose members (which happens far too often) to look at the stars. To look at those distant lights, to wonder if there exists other beings in one of those planets, watching the Legion War, watching country after country be wiped out, watching San Magnolia kill off the Eighty-Six in their characteristically brutal fashion.

All of a sudden, Riki misses Harua with a sharp aching just behind his ribs, right over his heart.

Harua is far from the first teammate that Riki has ever lost. But they'd been closer than one might expect—a sort of expectable bond forged from being the singular Orienta in the squad. The white pigs may be just that, but that doesn't mean the Eighty-Six are great all the time, either. Riki and Harua had both seen their fair share of discrimination for their skin color, for the difference in how they looked. Even if their current squad members are all pretty cool, the hurt stays, always. Especially when you're supposed to be sticking together against the Alba.

"Mila?" Riki whispers. "Today, when I was going to check on—on Harua, I found something."

He can feel Mila turn on her side to look at him. Harua's Juggernaut had been downed, and Riki had stupidly jumped out of his own wrecked one to go get to him, before Raiden had sharply ordered him to stay where he was. Raiden isn't their squad captain, but they've learned to listen to people like him and Shin, by now. 

Riki had spotted the shiny little rock in the ground right before he'd climbed back into his Juggernaut, biting his lip at the fact that one of his teammates was fighting to protect him. In the end, that teammate scraped by with a little bit more than a nasty gash to the face from flying shards of metal during the battle.

That little rock was what he held onto, hunching his shoulders, biting his lips, as he listened to Harua's terrified scream echoing through the air, through the Para-RAID connection, before the Legion unit brought a blade down and neatly beheaded him. Nobody was able to save him. Nobody was able to end it for him before they took him.

Such is their life, but it doesn't stop him from getting upset every now and then.

"What did you find?" Mila asks, and that's when Riki turns around to face her as well. He reaches out a fist between the two feet that separate them, and drops the shiny little rock. Mila picks it up, examining the smooth, blue surface. "It's pretty."

"I know it's stupid," Riki says awkwardly, "but you saved me today, so I just..."

There are a hundred different things he could've done. Take her laundry duty. Help the girls in the kitchen. Go hunting with the boys for a change and bring something back for her. So many acts that could've won her over, and he chose to give her a stupid rock.

But he can't find it in himself to regret it, knowing Mila likes these small gestures better than anything else. Something small, meaningful. Though what the rock is supposed to mean, Riki isn't really sure, other than that the shade matches her eyes.

"I didn't save you," Mila says, "and it's not stupid. It matches my eyes, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, well..." Riki coughs. To this day, he doesn't know how to handle it when Mila calls him out so obviously like this. "Don't deviate from the point. If you hadn't warned me, I would've been dead. That Ameise would've—" he makes a slicing motion across his throat.

"Julien warned you, too," Mila points out, turning the rock over in her hands. She likes it, Riki thinks with a burst of joy.

"Yeah, half a second after you," Riki counters.

Mila laughs. "Okay, okay, I get your point," she says, turning onto her back again. Riki somehow finds the courage to stay where he is, looking at her. She must notice, but makes no comment on it. "Is this some kind of courting gift, Nishimura?"

Riki blinks. "Huh?"

"I said," she repeats without turning to look, but a playful smile curls on her lips, "is this some kind of courting gift?"

His ears burst into flame, practically. "I—I don't—know?" Riki stammers out, which prompts Mila to burst into laughter, finally turning to look at him again. "Why would you—?"

"Sophia told me you may have a crush on me." The words make Riki's face and ears burn worse. "And, well, once I started looking for the signs..."

What little he can see of her blue eyes seem darker. "We don't know when our last sunrise will be. So...I thought to myself, what's the worst that could happen, if I went for it?"

That kills the fluttery feelings swirling in his chest, the hotness in his face. He exhales slowly, turning onto his back, too, eyes tracking the shapes of the constellations in the sky, trying to work out what to say, and how to say it. 

"At first," he starts, "you didn't really seem special to me."

Normally, Mila would be making fun of him for that, but now she just listens quietly, humming in response. Riki sucks in another breath, because what he wants to say is by no means an easy feat, but he feels the need to say it, because he could die tomorrow, and he doesn't want to leave anything unsaid. As somber as it is, the thought of it kills his nerves.

"You were just another Processor," Riki goes on. "Yeah, you're really pretty, and yeah, there aren't many girls in our squad—" or even among the Eighty-Six as a whole "—but I was just focused on getting better at...not dying, you know? Because the truth is, death scares me. Even if our entire lives are shrouded in death."

"What changed?" Mila asks. Her hand finds his in the semi-darkness overlaid with silvery light. "Or, well, when did that change?"

"I guess when the platoons were first reorganized," Riki reflects, "and we had to work together. I dunno. I just know we started to work together more and it kinda went on from there?"

"It was like that for me, too," Mila admits. "I mean, it's hard not to notice one of the only Orienta in the squad when he's basically a loner, but...you get what I mean."

"Yeah," Riki agrees, "I do." A beat of silence, and then, "it's—it was Harua who helped me realize. That I like you, I mean. That I like you a lot."

"Really?" Mila sounds startled; Riki doesn't turn his head to look. He's afraid he might lose whatever this rush of courage flowing through him is if he looks. "Harua?"

"Yeah."

"He helped me realize, too," she reveals. Riki blinks, but keeps his head firmly in place. "He pestered me about it a lot before I gave in and faced my feelings. He didn't tell me anything about you, though. That was all Sophia."

"So he was playing matchmaker the entire time," Riki huffs out a laugh. "Wanna bet both he and Sophia were in on it together?"

"Why bet when we know that for a fact? Sophia's a sucker for romance," Mila snorts, right as Riki lets out another giggle, thinking of their mischievous, hyperactive friend. 

The silence falls, though, when the weight of her words settle in.

And yet, Riki refuses to let this chance go to waste. This could be their last night under the stars. Their last night together. The last chance to tell her what he needs to say.

"Mila." He sucks in a breath. His hand clutches hers tighter. "I love you."

She whispers back a quiet, "me too."

Joy bursts through Riki's entire being, and he turns to face her, grinning like the biggest damn fool on the planet. Mila turns to face him at the same time, and their eyes meet, and they're both giggling and grinning and just reveling in the sheer ridiculousness and euphoria of the moment and Riki just loves her so much he doesn't know what to do with all of this feeling.

"I'm going to sound really cheesy," Mila warns, "but sometimes I feel like nobody else complements me the way you do."

"Stop!" Riki starts actually laugh. "No romancing in the middle of the night!"

"You're romancing me too!"

"Only because I can't help it!" he protests, mouth aching from all this smiling. "You expect me to be able to help it—"

A sudden noise not too far off startles them both and they're up like lightning, ready to run, hands on the guns strapped to their waists. Riki's head swivels, heart pounding. He can't pinpoint where the noise came from. Did a Legion unit actually manage to sneak up on them? How much did they have left? Could they still run—

"Just a rabbit," Mila sighs out in relief, pointing to the animal a little distance way. "We're fine. Legion units make more noise than that anyway."

"Unless it's an antipersonnel type," Riki mutters, "but we're not on the battlefield, so."

Not exactly relieving, but Riki takes it. He sits down heavily on the grass, acutely aware of how ruined their mood is. Mila sits down beside him and lays her head on his shoulder.

"It's frustrating, isn't it?" Mila murmurs. "Knowing that there's love to be found in places as awful as this, but not knowing if we can live to experience it to the fullest."

"But I'd love you anyway," Riki says. "Even if I died, I'd love you."

"That's physically impossible."

He shrugs. "Just because something is supposedly impossible doesn't mean I can't promise to do it anyway. Because I will, you know. I will love you till death, beyond death, even."

"Okay, then," Mila says quietly. "I believe you. Because I will, too."

"But," he continues, "promise me you won't let them take me. If worst comes to worst...please. Do it. End it. Don't let them take me. I can stop them from taking you, but I can't defend myself if it comes to that."

"I'd kill myself before I let them take you," Mila whispers. "That's a promise."

"I won't let them take you, either," Riki vows firmly.

And when he leans down to press a kiss to her hair, she looks up. There's no negativity in there; she just looks sad and surprised all at once. "I love you," she murmurs. "I don't want to lose you."

But you'll lose me anyway. I'll lose you anyway.

Riki leans down to really kiss her, inching slowly so that she can move away if she doesn't want to, but she doesn't. Their lips meet and the kiss is simultaneously the best (first, actually) and saddest kiss of his whole life; they're slightly shaking in each other's hold, and Riki feels the sting of tears in his eyes.

"I don't want to lose you, either," he whispers when they pull apart. He hugs her tightly, burying his face in her brown hair. "I can't lose you, either."

But loss goes hand in hand with life anyway, doesn't it?

𓆩♡𓆪

And so, here they are. Trapped at the edge of a cliff of death where there is only one way to go—down. Down, down, down, until they are no more.

Riki's been impaled in the chest by flying shrapnel and he can't even tell if it's numbness or the actual loss of his right leg that makes him unable to feel it. Mila's entire left forearm is gone. There's shrapnel embedded in her shoulder, and a deep gash from somewhere on her torso is dripping blood everywhere. God, the two of them will not be making it.

Hence why they need to end it. Now.

"Do it," Riki urges, starting to inhale deeply, but stopping when pain ricochets through him faster than that bullet can travel. "Mila, come on. We don't know when they'll come back."

For all he knows, their squad-mates have driven the Legion away from Riki and Mila's ruined units to allow them time to end it, or something. 

"I promised," Mila cries. "But I—I can't do it to you—"

"You should be able to do it because it's me," Riki lets out a rattling breath. He can taste blood in his mouth, in his throat. "Because you don't want me to be taken by them. Because you don't want me crying out for you for all eternity in a craze."

The admission that his last words would be about Mila snaps something inside her. He can tell from the way her eyes harden. The way she closes them, inhales deeply despite the pain wracking her body right about now. Because of course she doesn't want that; she wouldn't wish that upon anyone but the white pigs. And even then, being taken by the Legion seems all too cruel.

"I don't want that to happen to you, either," Riki whispers. Tears well up in his eyes, hot and burning. "Harua's already gone. I couldn't save him, so please. Please. Don't let it happen to either of us."

He fumbles around for his own gun, and levels it at her. His hands shake but he's sure of himself. Ending Mila's life by his own hands? A muchbetter alternative. The only choice he has.

It's better than being beheaded by the Legion, becoming nothing more than a central core processor for one of their units. To be multiplied infinitely until there's so many of them screaming their death throes over and over again.

Riki knows this, because he overheard Shin talking to Raiden. He wishes to this day he hadn't known that, because now it makes the idea of becoming a Legion unit all the more terrifying.

He steadies the gun, closes his finger around the trigger, begins to pull just as Mila begins—

"MILA!" a voice shrieks, accompanying stomping footsteps. "RIKI! Where are you guys?"

"Sophia," Mila's eyes widen. "Oh, no no no no—"

"MILA!" the high-pitched female voice continues yelling, even as every inch of Riki wants to yell right back, to tell her to be quiet lest they're found, but it's bound to attract more attention from any Legion which might be nearby. Besides, their blood is an easy enough trail for Sophia to find them, as gruesome as it is.

It doesn't take long for her to come across them, and she immediately steps back, golden eyes blown wide. "No," she whimpers. "Please, no..."

"Sophia," Riki rasps. "You don't need to see this."

The petite Heliodor girl glares at him furiously. "Bullshit!" she snaps. Ever a raging storm, that's Sophia, indeed. "We can—we can still take you back to base, help you heal—"

"Now that's bullshit on level with the white pigs' logic, Sophia," Mila stops her. "You know there's no saving us. Maybe if we had medical help..."

She lets the sentence trail off. The brutal honesty puts out Sophia's fire as quickly as it had flared up as she tracks her eyes from Mila's bleeding stump of a forearm, the shoulder injuries. The gash Riki now realizes comes from a piece of metal wedged deep in her stomach. Riki's chest, and his leg, which he really doesn't want to look at right now.

The Eighty-Six don't have medical staff. They have to make do with what little supplies they manage to scrounge up. The only 'valuable' Eighty-Six, in any sense of the word, are the mechanics and their only use is to maintain the Juggernauts.

The Eighty-Six's only purpose is to fight the Legion and die trying. Nothing else. If they get injured, then it's game over. From there, the only option is to die.

Being assimilated by the Legion is not an option most are willing to accept. Riki would just shoot himself here and now if he didn't think Mila would be left alone. He doesn't think she would able to do it with his body lying in plain view—just as he doesn't think he can do it if her body was before him, either.

Sophia lets out a sob, pressing her blood-covered hands to her hands. Riki doesn't want to know whose blood it is. "This is so unfair," she sobs. "I don't want to lose my three best friends all in the span of two days."

Riki wants to point out that at least she didn't have to watch Harua die, but she definitely heard his death screams. His cry of, "someone please help me!" right before he was taken. But he doesn't think that'll help.

"I'm sorry, Sophia," he tries, gentler than he's used to being. "I'm so sorry that it has to be this way. We don't want to leave you. We would never."

"We love you, girl," Mila inhales shakily. "We love you so much, you and Harua. But you should go. You don't need to see this. Nobody should."

"This world is so messed up," Sophia looks up. "It took my parents. It took my sisters. It took Harua. And now it's taking you, too."

Riki knows Harua himself had a bit of a thing for Sophia. The two of them were friends, but it was difficult to tell what their relationship was, exactly. More specifically, it was Harua who was more sure of how he felt, and Sophia who never gave a thought to the nature of their relationship.

Matchmakers who could've been in love. 

"The world takes and takes, Sophia," Riki tells her. Oh, the pain is becoming unbearable now, the smell of blood only growing stronger and stronger. "It took my parents and sisters, too. Mila's parents. We're all a victim to it, and there's nothing else to do but soldier on through it."

He knows that so well. So many times have passed where he's had to tell himself just to stay afloat. Just to stay sane. 

When he had watched Konon be assigned to a different squad and never heard of her again, Sola left behind in the camp before she would be inevitably forcibly enlisted too. Never knowing what happened to either of his sisters, or his parents, who he knows are long  dead by now. He had almost wished to be back at the camp amidst the constant abuse, physical and verbal.

"I hate it," Sophia says, looking at them wide, wet eyes. "I don't want to keep losing."

"One day it'll end, one way or another," Riki says. "Please, leave. We don't have too much time left and I don't want you to see this, Sophia."

"Just—just please remember us at our best," Mila croaks out. "Remember that we loved you and Harua. That you were one of the best parts of our lives."

Sophia backs away slowly, swallowing hard. "What should I tell the captain...?"

"Tell him what you need to."

"Okay." Her golden hair and eyes glimmer in the sunset light. Harua would've wanted to witness this sight a thousand times, Riki thinks. He had always thought Sophia was a sunset kind of girl. "Goodbye...I love you. Both of you."

And then she's turning away and running, sobs wracking her frame as she goes. Riki aches to see her in so much pain, and it's worse when he sees the way Mila's closed her eyes, crying softly. 

"I don't want to die," she confesses. 

"Neither do I," Riki says. "But..."

"Yeah." Mila takes in a shaky breath. Levels her gun, and so Riki does, too. "I love you, you know. More than anyone else. You were my thin thread of sanity at times."

"You're everything to me," he admits softly. "I love you more than I can put into words."

"So then—" her grip tightens. Riki mirrors the action; it's like they're going to do everything together in their last moments. "Goodbye, love."

"Goodbye."

They pull the triggers. Mila's beautiful, beautiful smile is the last thing Riki sees before the bullets meets his forehead square in the center.

The best goodbye he could've wished for.

shinjū (心中), meaning "double suicide", used in common parlance to refer to any group suicide of two or more individuals bound by love, typically lovers, parents and children, and even whole families. 

lovers committing double suicide believed that they would be united again in heaven, a view supported by feudal teaching in Japan, which taught that the bond between two lovers is continued into the next world, and by the teaching of wherein it is believed that through double suicide, one can approach rebirth in the Pure Land.

songs listened to while writing:   - rock with you, seventeen   - voices of the chord, sawano hiroyuki   - my youth, nct dream

[ratherxintense]

Flashback

Night had fallen in Freeside.

Vulpes had settled on the second-story of a pre-war shop, now effectively a rooftop, as the ceiling and most of the walls had crumbled away in years past. From where he sat in one corner on his bedroll, he could look down on the streets, mostly darkness, but lit in patches by lamps and sputtering barrel fires.

A few rats could be seen running in the gutters. Starved, exhausted bodies huddled by their fires, or sprawled alone on the cracked concrete, surrounded by trash.

Alone. All of these people were so alone.

Vulpes had never struggled with culture shock. As part of the Legion that had conquered eighty-six tribes, he had seen all manner of societies - the savage and the tame, the enlightened and the ignorant - but this was no society at all. No culture or background unified these weak and drug-addled shadows. They called themselves nothing, believed in nothing. Each birth and death on their dirty streets was suffered alone.

Vulpes watched with tired eyes as one of the rats began gnawing at the limp hand of a passed-out ghoul. Then it began biting in earnest, tearing. Vulpes wondered if the ghoul would wake before he lost a hand.

"Go back to sleep."

Vulpes quickly turned toward the voice.

"I've never...known any place like this before."

"It's no good here, is it?" Not really a question, but a knowing suggestion.

"It's not what I had hoped." Mighty Caesar deserved better than this place. The Legion would have no choice but to reforge their great city from a pile of filth. A second battle for the dam would be only a start.

"It could be so much better, you know. Shouldn't be so hard for people to just...be kind to one another." That voice, it was the one civilized thing for miles. Reasonable and...assuring.

Vulpes replied with just a nod.

"Get some rest, 'wool-pace'. I'll make sure there's no trouble."

"I will. Thank you, Hector."

[akariamai]

Welcome to Spearhead

Shinei Nouzen x OC

Word Count: 2321

Like an infestation, war trickled into every aspect of the lives of those the Republic of San Magnolia deemed to be less than. Those who do not possess fair skin and light hair were sent to internment camps, located in the wasteland beyond the walls of the city. The conditions of the internment camps were despicable — almost uninhabitable. Memories of sharing a horse stall with her family of four were engraved in her mind. Her family was shove into the stall — still full of shit — were left to tidy what was now there new home. Old forgotten hay laid bare on the floor as her mother and father shared the same feeling of helplessness. Her twin sister scrunched her nose in disgust as the vile stench of shit infiltrated her nostrils. Her mother put on a courageous facade before attempting to imbue the stall with a sense of home. She invested a considerable amount of time and effort in her endeavors but ultimately failed.

The family of four was given a month of peace before their mother and father received recruitment letters, promising citizenship and freedom for five years of service. Their father, cursed with his sense of pride, mindlessly accepted. The thought of dying and never seeing his family again hadn’t crossed his mind once. It was his family that kept him alive through the dark horrors of war but captivating notions were not enough to stop the autonomous AI-controlled drones known as the Legion. He perished believing in a lie.

Her mother struggled with her father’s absence. He was her pillar of strength; as long as he stayed by her side, she would always prevail. He was gone now, participating in a war for false promises. She stressed for his safety and health, as well as the survival of her children. She proceeded to smile though it was far less bright. Her children needed her to be in the present; to survive the harsh realities of the internment camp. It wasn’t long before her mother was taken from the sisters, a rebellion against their suppressors turned deadly, and her mother became an unforeseen casualty. Her body buried in an unmarked grave.

“Promise me.” Warm gentle hands held onto hers, “Promise we’ll stay together. That we’ll always have each other.”

“I promise.” Reva whispered.

Once the two sisters realized their father wasn’t coming back from the battlefield, they decided to join. The people, now referred to as the Eighty-six, grasped onto the realization no one was ever coming back. There was no freedom after five years of service. It was a mere lie to get the Eighty-six to enlist.

Reva saw her comrades die at the hands of the Legion. Friends she once smiled and laughed with. Their forms left bruised and battered, while their spirits departed, leaving their bodies cold. She heard the pain-filled cries of her twin sister before she perished with the rest of their comrades.

“Wraith!”

Reva, during the heat of battle, fought her way towards her sister’s irreparably destroyed Juggernaut. Her emblem splattered in blood — her blood — and a lifeless corpse surrounded decimated bricks from the ruins of a nameless city. She fired at the Legion, who stood above her sister’s body, relentlessly. Her finger pulled on the trigger countless of times to ensure her sister’s murderer could no longer move.

“Fuck you!” She screeched, unleashing a rage she didn’t know she had. “Just die!” She didn’t know how long she persistently battered the once mobile machine but once her madness subsided, it was nothing more than scrap metal.

The handler, an older man with an unpleasantly croaky voice, declared, “The Legion are retreating, the other Juggernauts are unresponsive, you’ll be transferred immediately.” The transmission ended with no condolences or congratulations. The Eighty-six’s were nothing but lambs to the slaughter, destined to die for the Alba. An unfamiliar ache etched into her beating heart would unknowingly become a reminder of her loneliness.

She heavily climbed out of her own Juggernaut, the corpse of her deceased sister lying motionless a few meters away of her iron coffin. The reality of the situation seemed to seep in as the sky above began to weep.

Her sister’s name lingered in the back of her throat as she stumbled closer. Breathing almost became too difficult as hiccups threatened to erupted from her lips. Her salty tears camouflaged with the raindrops trailing down her rosy cheeks. Her sister’s lifeless body laid above a growing pool of deep crimson blood, her clothing drenched in red. Once vibrant sapphire eyes faded into a dull emptiness. Reva wanted to roar into the darkness in despair. Embracing her sister tightly against her chest, she instinctively sought to shield her sister from the rain, a futile gesture.

“I’m sorry.” Reva barely choked out. She laid a gentle farewell kiss on her forehead, praying to one day see her again, and used her bare hands as tools to lay her sister to rest in the Earth. The downpour made it utterly frustrating but she persevered. Her sister deserved a burial. Mud soiled her pants as she crouched down onto the muddied floor, her hands shoveling away the filthy water and grime.

Hours must have passed as the daybreak glimmered through the dark clouds. The heavens wept no more, it’s tears all gone. It was the start of a new day without the constant presence she was familiar to; a sunrise her sister would never get to see. She solemnly limped back to her Juggernaut and returned to the deteriorating building she once shared with her squadron. Instead of dirtying the sanitize floors, she waited in her sullied clothing for her transportation.

~~~

The Alba men assigned to transport her to her new squadron showered her with dirty looks. Their light eyes acted as daggers; deadly if their glares could inflict pain. “Filthy pig,” They muttered under their breath, “Change!”

Reva didn’t bother to move. She had spent hours pondering over the loss of her sister. What gave these men, who were complacent when their neighbors were stripped of their human rights, the right to order her around. They were nobodies forced to work in close proximity to the Eighty-six, acting as mere errand runners with no true purpose or nobility.

“What are you waiting for?” They viewed her as nothing more than livestock; in need of control. They tenaciously held onto the perceived sense of superiority, ingrained by the institution that unlawfully detained the Eighty-six, over her being. Undisturbed by the objections from the men, she confidently moved towards her four-wheeled prison, closing her eyes once she found a spot that would be untouched by the machinery.

Once the men noticed she was not responding to their demands, the older man reached out his arm to drag her out without a care of her well-being. Despite her striking resemblance to a human, the “unnatural” color of her being prevented her from being perceived as such. His hand refrained from making contact with her form as she skillfully twisted his arm and forcefully directed his body to the ground. The Alba men before her have never seen the battlefield; they have never bared the hardships that came with war. They willfully lived ignorant of the truth behind “the war with no casualties.”

The younger man hurried to the aid of his comrade, assisting his higher-up, all the while casting wary glances at the girl, apprehensive that she might persist in her assault. “Are you okay?” The two men refused to take their eyes off of her as if she were a barbaric animal, ready to pounce at any given moment. Realization washed over them as they unwillingly accepted her decision and carried on with their assigned duties.

She remained unaware of the men successfully loading up her Juggernaut or her transport advancing to another battlefield — a battlefield she may very well perish. Her back kissed the metal plating, as the tenderness of her body hit her with the momentum of a speeding train.

Time slipped by before the entrance opened and the light flowed in like a never ending stream of welcoming ambiance. “Get out.” The men left her unattended, apprehensive of her being, standing by for her to step out and allow them to work. She ignored them, absorbing what would be her new home for the foreseeable future. There were two buildings in range of her sight. The first was a weather worn barracks’ hangar where the Juggernauts and other military equipment would be stored away, although the Eighty-six were not supplied with adequate gear or materials. The second was a rundown building; the place where she and the other Eighty-six would occupy themselves in. There was nothing glamorous about the building; there were noticeable cracks on the exterior and foliage sprouting to one day overtake the structure.

“So you’re the new recruit,” A man with an unkempt field uniform roamed closer to her. “Welcome to Spearhead.” He noticed the dried mud, flaking due to the movement of her clothing, and assumed the two Alba men must’ve tussled her around before transporting her. It wasn’t uncommon for the transport team to harass, even assault, the Eighty-six.

She nodded her head and gave him a pathetic smile. He was pleasant, she noted, by his subtle attempts to respect her personal space. By the condition of her clothing, it would be a rather fair assumption the Alba men physically attacked her; however, she would not get too familiar with him or the others in this squadron. Death awaited them, even herself. She will soldier on without the support of her sister, without a purpose to continue living. She will die on the battlefield; her existence disregarded while the life is scuffed from her body, countless of miles away from her sister’s resting place.

“The name’s Raiden Shuga; personal name: Wehrwolf.” To bear a personal name was a minimal act of respect Processors could offer veterans of the war, who returned from death’s door countless times.

Returning the sentiment, she offered him her true and personal name, “I’m Reva Nakamura; personal name: Hellfire.”

Where Wraith goes, Hellfire follows, a phrase old comrades used to comment. Two veterans whose coordination—without a single word uttered—reigns supreme among the other Processors. He was told, “They were two halves of a whole, you would never see one without the other.” Yet, here Hellfire stood without her other half; presumably dead and Raiden knew better than to mention it.

Instead he acknowledged her, masking the recognition of her personal name, “I’ll show you around, introduce you to the others. Some are busy with chores but you’ll see them afterwards.”

The Spearhead squadron had plenty of members, each a veteran in their own right, each with a story to tell. No matter how often she was transferred, seeing new young faces left a horrendous taste in her mouth. They were all going to succumb to the Legion; it was not a matter of if, but a matter of when. Death cradled them, awaiting for their gut wrenching cries of anguish and grief; to carry them away from the suffering of this bleak existence.

Forever wasn’t meant for them. It was more for the last person standing to uphold the memories of the deceased, although those memories will only persevere if they manage to stay alive. Living, however, does not guarantee memories will stay intact — memories fade through age or vanish in death. They were not meant to linger for eternity. Their sacrifices will not be remembered by the generations to come, only lost in the sea of nameless corpses.

“Reva, given a new change of clothing by Anju, a comrade who bore some resemblance to the Alba with only her eyes countering those thoughts, stepped into the dining room. After being given a bowl of soup, she sought to sit alone but instead was ambushed by her comrades surrounding her with probing questions. The one who lead the charge was Kurena, a rather young girl with chestnut-colored hair and catlike Topaz eyes. Once she heard the infamous Hellfire was sent to their squadron, she couldn’t contain her curiosity. Reva was nothing like the image she had conjured up in her mind. She’d imagined an unyielding woman harden by the numerous battles she’d face, instead the person before her was a girl like her.

“How did you get the name Hellfire?”

“Where were you from?”

“What do you like to do in your free time?”

Reva swallowed another spoonful of soup, made from overgrown fresh vegetables the group scavenged from the ruins of the nameless city. It was better than the horrendous rations the Alba sent the Eighty-six.

“My family comes from the United Kingdom of Roa Gracia, but I was born in the Republic.” Certain questions were ignored; they carried memories she’d wish to forget. Instead of being offended for the unanswered questions, they assumed unpleasant memories were tied to them, and moved on. They were strangers to her, after all, she didn’t need to speak to them but she did.

The group spoke about themselves as well, giving her the opportunity to enjoy her meal uninterrupted without pausing to answer questions. They collectively mentioned their captain would always be found with his nose in a book, Theo pencil in hand would sketch away in his notebook, Kurena bears the role of the group’s cherished little sister, to which she whined was not true, and so many more.

Shin, one of the many nicknames he’s been given, sat away from the group. He listened to them giving the newbie insight on each member of the squadron; an attempt to get her familiar to them. Another name he may have to carry before his death; another burden to shoulder in the battlefield. At the moment, he was content that his friends were cheerful. Moments like these were scarce. Each day could be someone’s last.

Masterlist

[my-anime-list]

86 EIGHTY-SIX Part 2

Following Lena's departure, Shin and the remaining Spearhead squadron members venture deep into Legion territory, enduring numerous challenges until they are rescued by the reformed nation, Federal Republic of Giad. This new home offers them a chance at peace and normalcy, but the Eighty-Six cannot ignore their sense of duty for long. They return to the battlefield, enlisting in the military and bringing along a new ally, Frederica Rosenfort, a young girl with exceptional abilities and wisdom beyond her years. Unfortunately, the last two episodes faced production issues, necessitating a delay from January to March 2022 for their airing.